Photo by TRAVIS DAVID | Sullivan junior Katherine Sarver looks for an opening against a Washington defender Friday night. Sarver scored six points in the loss.

FREE ACCESS TO THIS STORY COMPLIMENTS OF LEGACY SEED SOLUTIONS

BY TRAVIS DAVID

[email protected]

SULLIVAN — When the Sullivan girls basketball team exited the locker room for the second half Friday night, the clock on the wall was close to the same time as a regularly scheduled contest.

But due to only playing two quarters of the junior varsity game, the varsity tip started earlier than normal.

The result was a 31-9 hole to start the second half against Class 3A No. 3 ranked Washington.

The first-half deficit proved to be too much to climb out of as the Lady Arrows dropped a 60-43 decision to the state-ranked Hatchets.

The setback was the first of the season in five games for the hosts.

“If we could just bottle up our second half, we will be just fine,” second-year Lady Arrows’ coach Vance Edmondson said. “But we just spent too much energy trying to get back into the game … we can’t come out and play the way we did in the first half.”

Jacie Wilson received an entry pass from Ally McKinley and laid a shot off the glass from point-blank-range for the opening points of the game. But the Hatchets grabbed control of the contest by scoring the next 13 points and led 13-3 heading into the second.

With the Sullivan offense spending most of the first half going sideways on the court instead of up and down, the Hatchets’ offense had little trouble making its way to the hoop.

Washington added 18 more points in the second quarter for a commanding 22-point cushion at the break.

“They pushed us around the court in the first half,” Edmondson said of the Hatchets. “We have to stop letting the better teams on our schedule do that to us to start the game. We saw the same thing last year playing against these guys at the Hatchet House and the same way against North and South Knox.”

But Edmondson saw a different team in the second half.

Within the first three minutes of the third quarter, the Sullivan offense had already matched the offensive output from the entire first half.

Rigley Goodman, who sliced her way through the Washington defense to cap the scoring in the first half, knocked down a corner three and another jumper from the baseline to spark the offense. 

The talented freshman would knock down another triple in the frame as the Arrows trimmed the deficit down to 12 points. 

After Washington pushed the lead back to 18 points late in the frame, Avari Kelley hit a three and McKinley added a pair of freebies pulling the hosts to within 43-30 heading into the final eight minutes of play.

“We had them rattled,” the Arrows’ coach said. “Although we can’t have slow starts like we had, I liked that we came out and showed some fight in the second half. Now we just have to learn how to do that for a full four quarters.”

Goodman hit her third 3-pointer of the game and followed with a drive to the hoop within the first two minutes of the fourth which pulled the Arrows to within 45-35.

But back-to-back threes from Kenna Garland and Katie Reed all but slammed the door shut on the Arrows’ comeback.

Garland finished with 12 points while Reed — who is one of the most heavily recruited players in the area — finished with 11 points and eight rebounds.

“I thought we did a good job of defending her tonight,” Edmondson said of Reed. “But they proved they are more than just one player. They have so much talent and are physical.

Reed currently holds more than 13 scholarship offers to Division I programs.

London Gilley led the Hatchets with 13 points.

Goodman paced the Arrows with a game-high 15 points — 13 coming in the second half.

Wilson added 10 points and seven rebounds, while McKinley finished with nine points, four rebounds and four assists.

Katherine Sarver (6) and Kelley (3) combined for nine points to round out the scoring.

Sullivan finished the game shooting 17 of 49 from the field while the Hatchets connected on 24 of 47 shots.

The Lady Arrows (4-1) remain home on Saturday, hosting Western Indiana Conference rival Edgewood.

Thanks to Legacy Seed Solutions for the sponsorship of this story